Rolle Guarantees Giants Playoff Spot, Tuck Has Words For Ware

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We're still three days away from Sunday night's epic showdown between the Cowboys and Giants, and already both teams have started getting a little bit chatty. Let's go first to Giants defensive back Antrel Rolle, who pulled a Jim Fassel and guaranteed the team will make the playoffs:

“You ask will we make the playoffs? Without a doubt,” Rolle said Tuesday on WFAN, according to Ralph Vacchiano of the New York Daily News. “Without a doubt. We will be in that postseason.”

OMG! That means he thinks his team is better than the Cowboys! THE NERVE. Then there was this war of words between DeMarcus Ware and Justin Tuck. First, Tuck declared that JerryWorld was "crappy" (but... but... fancy art installations!), which prompted this reaction from Ware:

“He says that because maybe he wants to play here,” Ware said. “Everybody wants to play for the Cowboys. If I wasn’t playing for Cowboys, I’d call it that, too, because I want to play for them."

Ware also implied that the Cowboys would go after Tuck's recent neck injury (I don't know how one targets another player's neck with any kind of discretion), and Mike Jenkins declared Giants running back Brandon Jacobs a "bully." THINGS ARE ESCALATING.

Here's my thought about these little pre-game verbal showdowns: I adore them. I don't think they have any hand in the outgame of the game at all. And I don't think one team is inherently classier than another just because they keep their mouth shut or don't make bold guarantees. I much prefer it when the two teams involved in an upcoming game openly HATE one another. That gives me the illusion that they're going to play extra hard in order to tear each other's throats out. Plus, all this talk dramatically increases the chances of a "chippy moment" during the game, when everyone starts shoving each other but it all gets broken up before flags are thrown. I love that stuff.

So kudos to you, Cowboys and Giants, for giving this game the proper, rancorous buildup it so desperately needs. It's almost enough to make me remember you've combined to lose five games in a row and are dead meat in the divisional round no matter who wins.